The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-12-03

all your heart, might, mind and strength.
Let the truth come from any source,
use it, hail it with delight, as you do
every fresh tint in the east before sum
rise. Go to your class and teach what
you believe to be true concerning the
nature of God, Jesus Christ, your be-
lief in another life, your firm convic-
ton of the reward of righteousness and
punishment of sin, and leave the result
with God. There are few things re-
quisite to this teaching. In addition to
your faith in God you must have faith
in the child to be taught, and faith in
your ability to teach. We must deal
with the child as the brightest and best
of Gods creation, capable of moral and
spiritual improvement. Believing as
we do that, in the dispensation of the
fulness of time, it shall be builded into
the temple of God. The lessons, then,
to be taught the child are to be drawn
from the Scripture, nature and the life
of the teacher, the last being practi-
cal. The grandest religious lessons
taught the child, are those taught by
the teacher in the practical affairs of
life. 1t is to appear the same fearless
Christian under various circumstances.
The teacher should give the child to
understand that he is united to God,
and the best in himself, and nothing
can separate them in love and pur-
pose they are one.
This teaching has more to do with
the forming of the character of the
young than we are accustomed to think.
A step out the way by the teacher is
noted by the scholar. and the teacher
has heralded back to him. Practice
what you preach. We should make a
theory of what we practice, and prac-
tice what we theorize on. The love,
wisdom, and power of God, as manifest
ed in nature, will enable us to explain
the Scripture. Wisdom in arranging,
power in executing, and love in pro-
tecting. The child will be led to be-
lieve, if it does not now, that God is
loving Father; that his care over the
lower order of animals and plants, fore
shadows his care for children. Wher-
ever you see an assistance offered
to make the Scripture plain, accept it.
Put the principles of the Bible in your
mind, and its sentiments in your heart,
and always bear in mind that character
is to be developed. Concentrate your
powers for that purpose, and rich will
be the harvest. l have but little faith
in the teaching of catechisms; they do
not expand the faculties, but tend to
contract them. Then again, they are
man devised, and the child will soon
discover that there is no life, no fresh
ness, or anything to produce love for
the kingdom of heaven, and zeal to
carry its blessings into the homes of
all men, and will detect that you ex-
alt your opinions above the Scripture.
This does not debar us from the use of
reason. For my part, believe that
Scripture and reason are halves of the
same whole. But when dealing with
moral or religious improvement, we
can always find principles in the Script
ures to delineate them. The purpose
of Scripture, as reflected off of the lives
of those who were inspired, is to bring
out of us a higher life. Its entreaty
from beginning to end, is to leave the
lower walks of life and walk in paths
which, by gradual ascent, bring you
to Gods dwelling place. The true Sun
day school is opening avenues to chill
dren for greater usefulness. We teach
the Christian religion because we be-
| lieve there is more in it to develop char
acter than in any other. Under its benign
influence, the soul can grow and grow
| forever if circumstances do not pre-
vent. The Jew and the GENTLE can
meet upon common level and embrace
each other as Gods children. For the
delineation of the fatherhood of God,
and brotherhood of man, the Scriptures
are to be studied. Nothing will quicken
the religious faculty quicker than re-
alization of the truth that God is
the Father of ALL The Scriptures are
to be studied to bring us nearer unto
our Father, and everything that bears
on that point should be wisely used.
And believe that portion of the Script
ure called the gospel:has more in it to
quicken human life than any other.
The gospels let us into the spirit of
Him who knew no sin. And he should
be the study in the school, because a
higher type of religion can be found in
his life than anywhere else. We should
strive to learn the circumstances in
which he was placed, the men among
whom he lived, their opinions and
passions hopes and expectations
those who hated and oppressed him
and the cause the superstitions which
prevailed at that time among the wise
and the multitude, and strive to see all
these things as wildly as if we had
lived at the very moment of his minis
try.
All this is not to be gained for its
own sake, but to bring us nearer unto